The Annotated True Buddha Sutra

Written by Living Buddha Lian-sheng, Sheng-yen Lu
Translated by Janny Chow

Day 5

Discourse No. 5:
(November 12th, 1988)

(cont.) transformed the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds into an extraordinarily splendid place filled with golden light. All the flower-buds simultaneously burst into fragrant blossoms. Jade grasses sent forth a wonderful scent. White cranes, peacocks, parrots, saris, kalavinkas, and jivajiras all took on a golden hue, and sang graceful heavenly songs in harmony.

The sky filled with golden light. A pure and wonderful heavenly melody resounded from the sky. The fragrances suffused all realms. Golden sky-abodes, adorned throughout with golden lotuses, radiated splendor. From the sky there showered heavenly flowers.

`The White Padmakumara, silently calling forth his spiritual power, transformed the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds into an extraordinarily splendid place filled with golden light. All the flower-buds simultaneously burst into fragrant blossoms. Jade grasses sent forth a wonderful scent. ` In an instant, all flowers burst into blooms and all grasses released wonderful fragrances.

`White cranes, peacocks, parrots, saris, kalavinkas, and jivajiras all took on a golden hue, and sang graceful, heavenly songs in harmony. ` Why do these birds take on a golden hue? Because gold signifies the highest value! `Graceful, heavenly songs in harmony ` refers to the most peaceful, elegant, and melodious sound.

I have said before that the harmonious and graceful, heavenly music found in the Western Paradise is a very powerful kind of music. Just imagine, in the future many people in this world will be going to the Western Paradise, and not all of them will have their karmic hindrances completely eradicated. These people are able to be reborn in the Western Paradise, but they still have some obscuration in them. Since these people are not completely free of egotistic desires, will they covet or steal the beautiful things they find in the Paradise? Isn`t this going to pose a risk to the celestial maidens in the Western Paradise?

Such a worry is unwarranted because of the existence of the harmonious and graceful, heavenly music. `Oh, what exquisite jewels, I must take some with me!` As soon as this thought occurs, the harmonious and graceful, heavenly music will flow into one`s inner being, and the desire to steal will vanish. A sacredness will well up inside one`s heart, `I am a holy person, how could I take these things?`

When one`s lusts are raging like fire, this harmonious and graceful, heavenly music will pour down upon one`s head like cold water. This most beautiful, pure, and transparent ice cold water will rinse away the filthy thoughts in one`s mind. Some individuals who arrive at the Western Paradise may still be emotionally attached to their spouses, children, and money. Although they have been reborn in the Pure Land and cannot go back to the world, they still worry over unresolved business there. In any case, as soon as they hear this harmonious and graceful, heavenly music, all of these troubling thoughts will disappear.

The harmonious and graceful, heavenly music is a very beautiful and wonderful realm of consciousness. Some people have homicidal tendencies within themselves. Sometimes, under stress, they want to kill others. When these people of strong destructive tendencies arrive at the Western Paradise and hear the harmonious and graceful, heavenly music, they will not want to kill. All thoughts of theft, lust, and even murder will be transformed by this music. Therefore, this harmonious and graceful, heavenly music has a most sacred and wonderful cleansing effect.

I have said before, there is sadness in the human world. Why is the Western Paradise called the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss? Because one is always in a blissful state there. As long as one hears the harmonious and graceful, heavenly music that flows through one`s heart, all emotional afflictions will vanish and all of the cells in one`s body will dance to the music. Once this dancing starts, it cannot be stopped. This is the reason behind `Ultimate Bliss.`

Someone asked me, `Grand Master, such a soothing piece of music sounds really nice. But wouldn`t one get tired of it if the same piece of music is played over and over again?` Do not worry, there are billions of pieces of harmonious and graceful, heavenly music in the Western Paradise. I assure you that you will never exhaust them all. Your lifespan there will be measureless and the music of `Ultimate Bliss` is endless.

`The sky filled with golden light. A pure and wonderful heavenly melody resounded from the sky. The fragrances suffused all realms. Golden sky-abodes, adorned throughout with golden lotuses, radiated splendor. From the sky there showered heavenly flowers. ` This paragraph describes that the sky of the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds is completely filled with a golden light that is most subtle and beautiful. A very pure and wonderful, heavenly melody came down from the Void. This music can only be described as pure and subtly wonderful. Actually, this kind of music is tantamount to heavenly music and cannot be heard in the human world.

During my recent trip to California, I snuck out one night, only one time, because I had been told that there are some Taiwanese-style nightclubs in Los Angeles that are not found in Seattle. These clubs have names like Great World, `Something` Rose, etc. Since our hearts are great and expansive, we went over to the Great World Club to have a look. The music there was indeed very loud! The dance floor was almost half the size of this hall in our temple. I heard that the club has thirty dance escorts. Shi-mu [Grand Master`s wife] was with me when I went there, and we just looked ?no dancing. They did not play any pure and wonderful, heavenly music. Most of the pieces were old Mandarin songs that I had heard before in Taiwan.

In the United States, it is rare to hear Mandarin songs, but the Taiwanese dancing clubs in Los Angeles all play Mandarin songs, even Tango pieces. When I heard the music, although I did not join in dancing, I started tapping my feet to the beat. If such common music is able to make a person feel relaxed and tap along, or make someone who enjoys dancing to dance and feel happy, how many billion times better is the pure and wonderful, heavenly music! How could the cells in one`s body not start dancing? From this analogy, one may perceive the innate sacredness of music. Good music can, indeed, cleanse and purify one`s consciousness.

`The fragrances suffused all realms. ` This sentence is saying that, because all flowers are blooming, and all the grasses are emitting their scents, these fragrances are suffusing all realms. There was one evening, before I went out to have dinner at a restaurant, when I felt like wearing a little cologne, so I sprinkled a little on myself. It was a sandalwood scent, not the kind of floral scent generally used by young girls. When I came out of the house, a lady was right on my heels and she exclaimed, `Oh, Grand Master`s whole body is exuding a fragrance! There are Bodhisattvas following us!` `Perhaps,` I said in response. This was not such an occasion, but it is true that spiritual cultivators can indeed generate fragrances from their bodies.

I have mentioned before that every person has his or her own signature body odor. I have met with tens of thousands of people who have come to consult me. As soon as someone sits down in front of me, I can smell the body odor. Some people get a longer consultation because their body odors are more pleasant. In some cases, as soon as the visitor sits down, I have to immediately stand up. To tell you truthfully, I have sometimes held my breath during a consultation. People do indeed give off odors. Those who have cultivated to a higher spiritual level will have bodies that spontaneously emit fragrances.

If one`s mind always harbors negative thoughts, if one does not do spiritual practice, is too much concerned with money, and is always swimming in `dirty water ditches,` one`s body odor will be a stench. If a person likes to gamble and his thoughts are always on wins and losses, as soon as he sits down, a waft of money odor will drift from his body. Many people have this kind of odor that does not smell good. If such a person sits next to me at the dinner table, I check to see if he drools when he eats. It is quite terrifying!

The kinds of fragrances found at the Maha Twin Lotus Ponds are not found in the human world. Therefore, the inhabitants there are very happy. They all enjoy the music and fragrances found in the land of Great Bliss.

The houses there are golden abodes. They are constructed of gold and emit great golden light. All these sky-abodes are adorned with many sculptures and paintings of golden lotuses. From the Void beautiful, golden flowers shower down.

Someone will ask, `Grand Master, if these golden flowers fall on our heads, won`t our skin break open and bleed?` There is no need to worry! When these golden flowers fall down from the Void and hit your body, they simply pass through. When they pass through your body, they generate a bliss in your cells, as if they were being massaged. Just think, these beautiful flowers fall onto you and pass through your head and body, and it feels as if a very skillful pair of hands were sensually massaging you. What a soothing experience! Also, each different kind of flower, as well as each different flower of the same kind, gives rise to a different sensation when it passes through (unlike the same routine that one receives when one goes for a massage session.) Each kind of sensation belongs to the realm of heaven and is the softest, most gentle, and most enjoyable.

We will stop here today.

Om Mani Padme Hum